Duneland has managed to concentrate the distilled essences of three seasons
in the space of about a week: the brutal wind storm on Sunday, Nov. 17; snow
on Monday night and possibly six inches of lake-effect tonight and
Wednesday; and the usual fall of leaves throughout.

All of which is complicating the job of the Chesterton Street Department.

today that
crews are--not surprisingly--behind schedule. Today they’re
working on last Thursday’s route.

But despite the lake-effect snow watch in effect, the Street Department will
maintain at least a couple of trucks equipped with leaf vacs. Schnadenberg
is hopeful that crews will be able to do pickups on Wednesday and
then--after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and Friday--will probably
work on Saturday, when temperatures are expected to hit 40 degrees.

Then, next week, crews will attempt one more complete pass through town,
although not according to the schedule.

Normally the leaf collection program ends at Thanksgiving, but leaves fell
late this season and, as Schnadenberg noted, “we’ve got to pick them up
sooner or later, so we’ll try to do it next week.”

Weather, of course, permitting.

Brush Collection

Meanwhile, some of the debris from the Nov. 17 wind storm remains in need of
collection. Your best bet, Schnadenberg said: call the Street Department at
926-2222 to arrange a pickup.

The Street Department’s grapple truck has been tasked to that duty but it’s
only the one vehicle, “it may take a little bit longer,” and in any case
manpower for now is being focused on leaf collection, Schnadenberg said.

Storm Debrief

Town Manager Bernie Doyle did report, at the Town Council’s meeting Monday
night, that communication between the town and NIPSCO in the wake of the
Nov. 17 storm was “commendable.”

“We continued to receive updates” from NIPSCO, Doyle said. “And we had a
really good working relationship with them.”

Something like a full quarter of the town was without power at some point
after the storm.

And, Doyle added, Schnadenberg’s “guys were right on the spot as always.”